Railway-traffic-controlling apparatus



July 3, 1928. 1,675,927

' c. w. FAlLOR RAILWAY TRAFFIC CONTROLLING APPARATUS Filed, May 6, 1927Patented July 3, 1928 pairs?!) STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES W. FAILOR, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNIONSWITCH & SIGNAL COMPANY, OF SWI$SVALE, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OFPENNSYLVANIA.

RAILWAY-TRAFFIC-CONTROLLING AI'PARATUS.

Application filed May 6,

My invention relates to railway traflic controlling apparatus, andparticularly to apparatus of the type wherein alternating; traingoverning energy is periodically applied to the track rails for thecontrol of train-carried governing mechanism. The present inventionrelates to the traclrway portion of such apparatus, and specifically totrack circuits in which the source of track circuit current is locatedat the entrance end of the section and the track relay is located at theexit end.

I will describe one form of apparatus embodying my invention, and willthen point out the novel features thereof in claims.

' The accompanying drawing is a diagrammatic view showing one form ofapparatus embodying my invention. Referring to the drawing, thereference characters 1 and 1 designate the track rails of a railwayalong which tra'l'lic normally moves in the direction indicated by thearrow. These rails are divided by insulated joints 2 into a plurality oftrack sections, the complete apparatus for only one track section Al3being shown in the drawing. This section is provided with a trackcircuit comprising a transformer T located at the entrance end of thesection, and a track relay R located at the exit end.

The secondary 3 of transformer T is connected across the track railsthrough 'a limiting impedance 2S, and the primary at of this transformeris connected with the secondary 5 of a line transformer L The primary 6of the line transformer L is constantly suppied with alternating currentfrom a generator G through the medium of a transmission line M.

The track relay R comprises two windings 8 and 9 and a rotor 7. Oneterminal of winding 8 is connected with track rail 1, and the otherterminal of winding 8 is connected with track rail 1 through a frontcontact 10 of the relay The other winding 9 is constantly supplied withalternating current from the secondary of a line transformer L theprimary (3 of which is connected with a transmission line M. It will beseen from the foregoing that when the track'relay R is open, it cannotbe closed unless a shunt path around contact 10 is closed, but that whenthe relay R is once closed it will remain closed as long as trackcircuit current is 1927. Serial N0. 189,269.

supplied to the track rails, because the circuit for winding 8 is thencompleted through front contact 10.

Alternating train governing current is supplied to the rails at the exitend of section A-B by a transformer D, the secondary 25 of which isconnected across the rails through a limiting impedance 27, and theprimary 26 of which is at times supplied with alternating traingoverning current which is periodically interrupted by a coding deviceG.

(he coding device C comprises a motor 16 operating two cams 17 and 18.(lo-acting with the cam 17 is a. rocker arm 23 which actuates twocontacts 19 and 20. lVhen the motor 16 is in operation these twocontacts are alternately closed, and they are so arranged that eachcontact is open while the other contact is closed. (lo-acting with thecam 18 is a second rocker arm 2 which actuates another pair of contacts21 and 22 in such manner that these contacts are alternately closed andthat each contact is open while the other contact is closed. The twocams 17 and 18 have differentnumbers of swells, so that for eachcomplete revolution of these cams, contact 20 will be closed oncewhereas contact 22 will be closed four times.

The reference character H designates a home relay located at theentrance end of section AB and supplied with alternating current from asecondary 5 of transformer L through the first contacts 12 and 13 ofrelay R. It follows that relay H will be closed or open according astrack relay R is closed or open. The track section to the right of pointB is provided with a home relay TI which is controlled in the samemanner as relay H The motor 16 of the coding device C is provided with acircuit which passes from the secondary 5 of transformer L through backcontact 11 of track relay R, and the motor 16 to secondary 5. It followsthat motor 16 will be in operation when and only when track relay R isopen. lVhen relay R is open, current is supplied to the primary 26 oftransformer D through contact 20 or 22 of the coding device C accordingas home relay H is open or closed. Assuming that relay H is closed, thecircuit for primary 26 is from secondary 5 of transformer L through backcontact 11 of track relay R,

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same except that it will include back contact 14 of relay H and contact20 of coding device C.

The front contact 10 of relay R is provided With a shunt whichincludes'contac't I 19 or 21 of the coding device C according as relay His open or closed. Assuming first that rela 7 H is closed this shuntoasses from .the heel of contact 10, through front contact 15 of relay Hand contact 21 of coding device C tothe toe of contact 10. If relay H isopen, the shunt is the same except that it includes the back point at"contact 15 ofrelay H and contact 19 of "the coding device C.

It will be seen from the foregoing that when the coding device C is inoperation, alternating train governing current will be supplied to therails of section AB, and that this current will be periodicallyinterrupted all one frequency or another according as relay H is closedor open; and it will also be seen that a shunt around contact 10 ofrelay R is closed d ng each interval between applicatirms of traingoverning current to section AB.

The operation of the apparatus is as fol. lows: c

When the section AYB is unoccupied and track relay E is closechthecircuit for motor 16.0f the coding device C is open at contact 11 and sothis device is at rest. I Will now assume that a train moving toward theright enters section A-B. Thewheels and axles of this train constitute ashunt across the track rails and so the supply of. track cir- :cuitcurnent to Winding 80f relay vR is discontinued. This relay accordinglyopens,

and motor 16 then becomes energized to operate the coding device C.Train governing current is then supplied to the rails of section AB,which current is periodically interrupted atone frequency or anotherraccordingas relay H is closed or open, that is, according as thesection next to the right of point B is unoccupied or occupied. lVi-thcontact 1.0 of rela' it 0 611, the train overning current cannotenergize Winding 8 to close this'relay. Furthermore, the shunt aroundcontact 1040f relay R closed only at such times as train governingcurrent is not being supplied to'section AB, so that there is no currentpresent in the track rails to energize relay R While this shunt isclosed.

The first time that the low resistance shunt around contact 10 of relayR becomes closed after the train passes out of the section A-B, thisrelay will become energized due to track circuit current fromtransformer T and will thereafter remain energized as long as thesection 1s unoccupled, because 1. In combination, a section of railwaytrack, a source of track circuit current connected with the railsadjacent the entrance end of said section, a track relay connected withthe rails adjacent the exit end of said section through its own frontcontact, means including a motor and a contact operated thereby forperiodically applying train governing current to the track rails at theexit end of the section, and means operated-by said motor for closing ashunt around said front contact of the track relay during each interval.erning current but not during the application or train governingcurrent.

2. In combination, a section of railway track, a source of track circuitcurrent connected with the rails adjacent the entrance end of saidsection, a track relay connected with the railsadjacent the exit endofEa-id section through its own front contact, a motor, a first contactcontrolled by said motor and arranged to be alternately closed andopened while the motor is in operation, a second contact controlled bysaid motor :andarranged to be open While the first motor controlledcontact is closed and closed While the first contact is opened, meansincluding said first contact for applying train governing current to therails at the exit end ofsaidsection, and a shunt path around said trackrelay front contact including :said second motor controlled contact. 3.In combination, a section of railway track, .a source of track circuitcurrent con nected with the rails adjacent the entrance end of saidsection, .a track relay connected with the rails adjacent the exit endof said section through its 0WD front contact, .a motor, two contactscontrolled by said motor and oar-ranged .to be alternately closed Whilethe motor isi-n ope-ration, each contact being open When the othercontact is closed, means including one of said motor controlled contactsfor applying train governing current to the track rails at the exit endof the section, and a, shuntpath aroimd said track relay front contactincluding the other motor control-led contact,

In testimony whereof I afix my signature.

CHARLES W. FAILOR.

het rvoen applicationsof train gov-

